This invention pertains to locking device that prevents the removal of a door from the door frame to which it is attached.
Most locks for doors are intended to prevent doors from being opened. These types of door locks serve the purpose of securing the items contained within the enclosed space behind the locked door. The subject invention pertains to a different type of door lock. The door lock of the subject invention prevents the door itself from being removed from the door frame to which it is attached. The impetus for the development of the subject invention was the need for a lock to secure the doors of a jeep Wrangler vehicle. Normally, Jeep Wrangler vehicle doors can be easily removed from the vehicle. Some Wrangler doors may be removed simply by lifting the door thus causing the door's hinge pin to come out of the hinge pin sleeve. Other Wrangler doors may be removed simply by removing one or two nuts prior to lifting the door to remove the hinge pin from the hinge pin sleeve.
Wrangler doors are often damaged during the off-roading activities common for these vehicles. Since the demand for replacement Wrangler doors is high, and Wrangler doors can easily be removed from the vehicle, these doors are often subject to theft. This invention prevents the theft of certain types of Jeep Wrangler doors. The application for the subject invention is not limited, however, to Jeep Wranglers. The subject invention will work on any door with certain characteristics found on the door of the Jeep Wrangler. The subject invention is intended for any application in which a door has a hinge pin fixedly attached to the door and a hinge bracket with a hinge pin sleeve bolted to the door support frame, the bolts connecting the hinge bracket to the door support frame being held in place by threaded bolt holes contained within the door support frame itself.
Since the present invention serves the need of a specialty market, the prior art is quite limited. One commercial device, the Security Door Locker manufactured by the Tuffy company of Cortez, Colo., locks Jeep Wrangler vehicle doors onto the vehicle. The Tuffy product requires a substantial amount of installation time since installation entails removing a nut that is located in a difficult-to-access area behind the dash of the vehicle. Furthermore, the Tuffy product is bolted onto the vehicle in a manner such that it can be removed with standard tools even when in the locked configuration. The Tuffy product can therefore be rendered ineffective simply be removing it with standard tools. The Tuffy product is apparently intended only for the cases in which a would-be thief acts on impulse without the tools or time to remove the lock. U.S. Pat. No. 6,546,766, to Klingler, describes a Lock Nut that is highly effective for securing certain types of Wrangler doors. Klingler's Lock Nut is effective, easy to install and, unlike the Tuffy product, cannot be removed without unlocking the device. Klingler's Lock Nut, however, is only effective for those Wrangler vehicle doors containing hinge pins with threaded ends.
The subject invention improves upon the prior art by offering a device that is quick and easy to install; is effective on doors with either threaded or unthreaded hinge pins, and cannot be removed with standard tools when in the locked configuration.
The prior art devices described above do not disclose, teach or illustrate the unique structure, function and advantage of the subject Locking Device To Prevent Door Removal.